Locomotive front end



Oct. 31, 1950 R. PYLE LOCOMOTIVE FRONT END 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April14, 1949 a" Tm o Oct. 31,1950

L. R. PYLE LOCOMOTIVE FRONT END Filed April 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Z)+1 mcH @y WWW im p Patented Oct. 31, 1950 LOCOMOTIVE FRONT END Leslie R.Pyle, Chicago, 111., assignor to Locomotive Firebox Company, Chicago,111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 14, 1949, Serial No.87,519

3 Claims. (01. 183-90) This invention relates to improvements inlocomotive front ends and it consists of the matters hereinafterdescribed .and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Theinvention is moreespecially concerned with a locomotive front end of thekind that includes a centrifugal spark arrester, which is peripherallyopen, at least in part, and has between the top and bottom platesthereof, a series of inwardly extending deflectors or vanes betweenwhich are spaces for the passage of the products of combustion from theinterior of the smoke box shell into the arrested'for entrain- .ment anddischarge up the stack under the action of steam blasts from the exhaustnozzles.

,Hcretofore such deflectors or vanes, along with their auxiliary wingswere constituted by imperforate sheet metal plates. Because of theirbeing imperforate, along with their arrangement relative to each other,they induced a high ve-. locity whirling movement of the products ofcombustion entering the arrester through the spaces between said vanes.This movement of said products causes the large particles thereof, suchas cinders, to impinge against the vanes and their wings withan abrasiveaction or effect, and cause a quick wearing out of the same.

Some of the cinders are ground down to smaller particles so as to beextinguished and then be airborne for entrainment into the stackassembly with a whirling motion along with the remaining largeparticles. These remaining larger particles, as they pass up the stackwith said whirling motion, impinge and rub against the inner surfaces ofthe stack assembly ,with a similar abrasive effect or action and this tosuch an extent that the stack assembly rapidly deteriorates and wearsout. A l, V v V This wearing away of the vanes of the arrester and ofthe stack assembly soon produces holes While it might be possible toreduce the abrasive actions or effects mentioned by reducing draftaction, this is not at all practical as the same would reduce operatingefliciency of the locomotive and increase operating costs.

'One of the objects of the present invention is to produce a novel sparkarrester structure for a locomotive front end, which overcomes to'a'great extent, the disadvantages above mentioned and inherent in sucharresters as heretofore made and whereby the velocity of the products ofcombustion is materially reduced as they enter the interior of thearrester, without disturbing draft action.

Another object of the invention is to provide in the arrester for alocomotive front end, a novel structure in the deflector vanes, wherebythe products of combustion are better and more evenly distributed forpassage through the spaces between the vanes and whereby a greaterpercentage of the larger particles of such products are reduced in massand extinguished and cooled before they are entrained for passage up thestack for discharge, thus reducing the abrasive action upon the vanesand stack so that they have a greater period of usefulness withoutrepair of replacements.

. Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide in connectionwith the foraminous vanes, a novel arrangement of table and baffleplates which cause the products of combustion to be directed in adefinite path, under the arrester. so as to then be capable of enteringthe arrester from the front and sides thereof, thus assuring that saidproducts be acted upon by the arrester for a greater length of time andbroken up into smaller extinguished particles for a better entrainmentup the stack with a greatly reduced brasive action thereon.

The above mentioned objects of the invention along with their advantagesthereof will more fully appear as the specification proceeds.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a, longitudinal vertical sectional view through a locomotivefront end embodying the preferred form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is va horizontal sectional view through the spark arresterportion of the front end struc ture appearing in Fig. 1, as taken on theline 22 thereof.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view through a part of thefront end, in advance of the spark arrester thereof, as taken on theline 33 and on a scale greater than that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the improved deflectors or vanesin the spark arrester of the front end and which will be more fullyreferred to later.

Fig. 5 is a detail view in elevation of a metallic wire netting fromwhich the vane of Fig. 4 may be made.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing a modified form of wirenetting from which said vane of Fig. 4 may be made.

Fig. 7 is a view in elevation showing a frag:

ment of a perforated sheet metal plate from which said vane of Fig. 4may also be made.

In general, the improved front end includes a centrifugal spark arresterthat is open about most of its periphery and which is supported in thesmoke box shell in operative relation to the bottom end of the stackassembly and the top end of the aligned exhaust nozzle by mean of atable plate.

The table plate is supported at its opposite sides by portions of thesmoke box shell and the front and rear edges thereof are spacedlongitudinally from the smoke box shell door and the front flue sheet ofthe boiler shell and to which the smoke box shell is operativelyattached.

The spark arrester includes top and bottom sub- I4 indicates a front forthe smoke box shell, which stantially circular plates, each havingopenings therein to accommodate the bottom end of the a stack assemblyand thetop end of the exhaust nozzle respectively. Between said platesare upright deflectors or vanes arranged tangentially to the axis of thearrester as a whole and they may or may not include lateral wings neartheir periphery to produce a tortuous passage for the products ofcombustion as they enter the spaces between the deflectors or vanes.

The deflectors or vanes are made of a novel material and instead ofbeing imperforate plates, as heretofore, they are provided throughoutwith evenly spaced openings and the combined area of said openingspreferably approximates substantially half the area of the deflector orvane.

In association with the table plate, there are bafile plates that closeoff the smoke box shell above the rear edge of the table plate so thatthe products of combustion entering the smoke box shell are caused totake a path under the table plate, to enter the spark arrester from thefront and the sides thereof. As these products enter the outer ends or"the spaces between the deflectors or vanes, under the draft action ofthe stack and nozzle, instead of passing through said space with avelocity abrasive action, parts of such products pass through theopenings in the deflectors or vanes and this reduces the velocity ofsuch products. Also, because of the many surfaces presented by saidopenings, such products are better broken up into smaller particles andextinguished before they are entrained into the exhaust blast forpassage up thestack. Thus the velocity of such products entering the.interior of the arrester is reduced without unduly reducing the draftaction and the resulting steaming action of the boiler.

In the passage of said part of the products of combustion through saidopenings in the deflectors, some may momentarily lodge therein, butother and succeeding products willimpinge thereagainst and break thesame to smaller sizes or otherwise wear them down to'extinguisheddust-like parts. Thus such particles are not heavy enough nor is thevelocity high enough to be carried through the blast to be depositedupon the bottom of th arrester and upon the table plate, but on thecontrary they are entrained-in a fine extinguished condition before theyenter the stack. Thus the abrasive wear on the stack is reduced,possibility of wayside fires, due to live cinder discharge up the stack,is eliminated and the tendency of cinders to accumulate in the bottom ofthe smoke box shell is avoided, and which therefore remains cleaner forlonger periodsof time.

Referring now in detail to that embodiment of the invention illustratedin Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 front has the usual door [5 therein.

l6 indicates the flanged base for the smoke stack, which is directlysecured to the top of the smoke box shell about an openin I! therein.The base carries a tubular depending stack portion l8 that depends intothe interior of the shell 18 and has an extension [9 attached to itsbottom end.

The steam or exhaust pipe or stand, which is indicated at 20, isdisposed in the bottom of the smoke box shell ID in axial alignment withthe stack 18 and its extension 19.

In the central portion of the smoke box shell I0 is located a sparkarrester of the so-called circumferentially open type and thesame isindicated as a whole at 2! in Fig. 1. This arrester, which issubstantially cylindrical in shape, has its vertical axis arrangedslightly forwardly of the stack l8 and its extension l9 and the exhaustnozzle 20. It embodies therein top and bottom vertically spaced plates22 and 23 respectively and perpendicular vanes or deflector members 24attached in a suitable manner at their top and bottom ends to saidplates and one of these vanes appears in perspective in Fig. 4. Thstructure of said vanes or deflector members will be mentioned in moredetail later.

The top plate 22 of the spark arrester, which is substantially circular,has a circular opening which receives the body of the stack extension69, the bottom flared end of which is disposed in a plane about midwaybetween the plates 22 and 23.

The bottom plate 23 of the spark arrester is v engaged in supportingrelation upon a table plate 25 disposed substantially in the plane ofthe top end of the exhaust stand or pipe 20. Said table plate whichengages at its oppoiste margins in supporting relation upon oppositeside portions of the smoke box shell below its axis, has its front andrear edges spaced from the door l4 and flue sheet l2, before mentioned.The table plate 25 and the bottom plate 23 of the arrester have alignedopenings therein to receive thetop end of the exhaust stand, whichdischarges exhaust steam into the central portion of the arrester andinto the bottom end of the stack extension, whereby draft action isinduced for theproducts of combustion from the flues 13 to the stack l8-for a discharge out through the top of saidstack.

The side and the front margins of the table plate are suitably stiffenedby angle bars 2B26 and 21 and 28 respectively, which best appear in Fig.2,'and these bars support the entireassem bly.

The rear margin of the top and bottom plates 22-23 of the arrester arecut off on a straight line coincident with the rear edge of' thetable'plate while the front margin of the bottom plate projects a shortdistance forwardly of the front edge of the table plate, as bestappearsin Figs. 1 and '2.

Rising from the rear edge of the table plate 25 andextendin'g to anelevation above the top plate 22 of thearrester, is an uprightimperforate ba'flle'plate 30, the side margins of'which engage the innersurfaces of side portions of the smoke box shell. To the rear of thestackl8 and its extension I9, but forwardly of the baffle plate 30, isa-second and imperforate baflle plate 31 which closes off the upperportion of the smoke box shell. The upper end of the bafile plate 30 andthe lower end of the bafile plate 3| are connected together by a steppedbaflie portion 32. These plates 3l!3l and portion 32 close off theentire upper portion of the smoke box shell above the table plate and tothe rear of the stack, its extension and the spark arrester, so that theproducts of combustion must take a path from the fines [3 which passesunder the table plate to enter the front and side peripheral portions ofthearrester. This path is best indicated by the arrows a pearing inFig. 1. v

. The vanes, asbest shown in Fig. 2, are disposed tangentially to theaxis of the arrester as a whole and extend inwardly from the peripheryof the top and .bottom plates 22-43 to terminate at the inner ends in acircle of a diameter greater than that of the flared bottom end of thestack extension as best appears in Fig. 2. With this arrangement'ofvanes or deflector plates there is formed therebetween spaces 35 throughwhich products of combustion tangentially enter the arresterto take on awhirling motion within the central portion' for entrainment up the stackunder the action'of the steam blasts discharged from the ex haust stand.

Each vane or deflector member 24 may include,

near its outer end, right angled wing extensions "24a and 25a,"but theseare not essential so far as the present invention is concerned.Heretofore such vanes or deflector members were made of imperforatesheet metal plates, which were open to .the objection previously setforth herein.

To overcome said objections, the said vanes or members are formed withopenings therein which are spaced evenly or in regular order and are ofsuch size as to collectively amount to approximately one-half the areaof said vanes or members and this is so whether said vanes or membersinclude the wing extensions mentioned.

In Fig. 5 there is illustrated on a full size scale (see scale adjacentFig. 6), a fragment of wire netting or mesh which will serve the purposeand which includes interlaced right angled, vertical and horizontalwires 36 and 31 approximating in diameter and so spaced apart as todefine in the netting square openings 38 each having a dimensionslightly over a quarter inch square. The collective area of saidopenings approximates 44% of the total area of the vane.

In Fig. 6 is illustrated on a full size scale (see scale adjacent Fig.6), a fragment of a modified form of wire netting which also well servesthe purpose. Such netting includes interlaced, right angled, verticaland horizontal wires 35a and 31a respectively, approximating in diameterand so spaced apart as to define vertically elongated rectangularopenings 38a. The openings are about 1% x A" wide and long andapproximate collectively 49% of the tota larea of the vane or member.

In Fig. 7 is illustrated on a full size scale (see scale opposite Fig.6), a fragment of a perforated sheet metal plate having rows ofelongated openings lu-40 each about of an inch wide and 1 long, openingsin one row being offset from those in adjacent rows by a narrow portionM. The spacing between adjacent sides of the openings in adjacent rows,as provided by the portions 41, is about of an inch. Thespacingirbetween adjacent ends of the openings in the same row isprovidedby portion 42 about 1 of an inch inlength. In such a perforatedplate the collective area of the openings relative to the area of thevane is somewhat more than one-half the area of the vane. 1;-

When the vanes are made of the netting de-: scribed and are providedwith the extension wings, such wings are welded to the vane as shown inFig. 4. This is also true when the vanes and their wings are made of theperforated" sheet metal appearing in Fig. 7.

When the vanes are made of the material just above described, it isobvious that the relative large cinders of fire carrying mass in theproducts of combustion, entering the spark arrester will impinge againstthe edges of the openingand will be broken up thereby and that suchproducts as can pass through the openings in one vane, impinge againsttheedges of the openings in'the next vane to be further broken upthereby into such small particles that burn themselves out and arecooled off before they are entrained into the stack for discharge. I r

It should be understood that the open mesh vanes are not applied for thepurpose of having cinders or solids pass through the mesh. The open meshvanes act to guide the cinders through the intake area so that they arecarried across the inside of the arrester in a tangential direction andhave to be picked up and carried into the stack in another movement. Asbefore explained, it is possible certain of the cinders and solids mayengage the edges defining the open spaces of the vanes, but they arequickly broken up and dislodged by the following products. The mainpurpose of the netting, however, is to reduce the centrifugal action.

Thus, as such particles are broken into smaller sizes and as thevelocity thereof is reduced, their abrasive action on the vanes arelikewise reduced so that wear becomes very little indeed and thiswithout seriously affecting the draft action of the locomotive of whichthe front end forms a part. The cinder cutting action on the stack andthe stack extension are also greatly reduced. Hence the maintenance costof the arrester, stack and stack extension is greatly reduced.

While the open area of the deflector wing may vary, it has been foundthat the best results are obtained when such open area is from 35 to50%.

While in describing the invention I have referred in detail to the form,construction and arrangement of the parts embodied in the improved frontend structure, the same is to be considered only in the illustrativesense and therefore I do not wish to be limited thereto except as may bespecifically set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A locomotive front end embodying therein a smoke box shell having ahorizontal axis and including a vertically disposed smoke stack andexhaust steam nozzle arranged to discharge into the stack, a sparkarrester in said shell and comprising a table plate disposed below theaxis of said shell and extending from side to side of the shell andhaving front and rear ends spaced from the front and rear ends of theshell, there being an opening in said table plate occupied by an upperportion of the nozzle, 9. top plate spaced above said axis of the shelland having an opening therein through which a bottom portion of thestack extends, a bottom plate engaged on Saidtable plate, said bottomplate and said table plate having openings therein for the top end ofthe nozzle, and a plurality of deflector members disposed between saidtop and bottom plates and extending inwardly from the periphery thereofand stopping short of the bottom of the stack and providing spacestherebetween for the passage of the products entering the arrester fromthe smoke box shell, at least certain of said members having openingstherethrough, which act to reduce the velocity of said products as theyenter the interior of the arrester, and means providing a baffle closingoff the smoke box shell and a .part of the arrester above the tableplate to. the rear of the stack.

2. A locomotive front end embodying therein asmoke box shell having ahorizontal axis and including a vertically disposed smoke stack andexhaust steam nozzle arranged to discharge, into the stack, a sparkarrester in said shell and comprising, a table plate disposed below theaxis of said shell and extending from side to side of the shell andhaving front and rear ends spaced from the frontand rear ends of theshell, there being an opening in said table plate occupied by anupperportion of the nozzle, a top plate spaced above said axis of the shelland having an opening therein through which a bottom portion of thestack extends, a bottom plate engaged on said table plate, said bottomplate and said table plate having openings therein for the top end ofthe nozzle, and a plurality of deflector members disposed between saidtop and bottom plates and extending inwardly from the periphery thereofand stopping short of the bottomof the stack and providing spacestherebetween for the passage of the products entering the arrester fromthe smoke box shell, each member being constituted by a woven wirenetting, the open area of which constitutes fromthirty-five to fifty percent of the area of said member, and means providing a baffle closingoff the smoke box shell and a part of the arrester above the table plateto the rear ,of the stack.

3. ,A' locomotive front end embodying therein a smoke box shell having ahorizontal axis and including a vertically disposed smoke stack andexhaust steam nozzle arranged to discharge into the stack, aspark-arrester in said shell and comprising a table plate disposed belowthe axis of said shell and extending from side toside of the shell andhaving front and rear ends spaced from the front and rear ends of theshell, there being an opening in said table plate occupied by an upperportion of the nozzle, a top plate spaced above said axis of the shelland having an opening therein through which a bottom portion of thestack extends, a bottom plate engaged on the table plate, said bottomplate and said table plate having opening therein for the top end of thenozzle, and a plurality of deflector members disposed between said topand bottom plates and extending inwardly from the periphery thereof andstopping short of the bottom of the .stack and providing spacestherebetween for the passage of the products entering the arrester fromthe smoke box shell, each member being constituted by a woven wirenetting, the open area of which constitutes from thirty-five to fiftyper cent of the area of said member, a wing carried by each member andextending outwardly therefrom at an angle and constituted by similarwire netting, and means providing a baffle closing off the smoke boxshell and a part of the arrester above the table plate to the rear ofthe stack.

LESLIE R. PYLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,358,095 Morris Nov. 9, 19201,747,669 Hawley Feb. 18, 1930 2,438,862 Pedigo Mar. 30, 1948

